account of the revenues of the Corporation, together with their application, in one month after the feast of St. Luke.

Bristol is a county corporate; that is, besides the city properly so called, certain lands and districts adjacent are comprised within its jurisdiction. The freedom of the city is obtained by hereditary right, by serving an apprenticeship of seven years if the indenture be registered at the council-house, by marrying a freeman's daughter, and by purchase. The last charter granted to the city of Bristol is dated the 24th of July, 1710, by which the former grants and privileges are confirmed, and the mayor and other officers of the Corporation allowed to execute their respective offices without the approval of the Lord Chancellor, which by the charter of Charles II. was ordered to be first obtained. Had the constitution of the Corporation been popular enough to conciliate the confidence of the citizens, it is impossible the civic authorities should have been so void of resources as they appear to have been during the late riots. Beside, the Corporation is accused of not administering their numerous charitable trusts either wisely or faithfully. The Free Grammar School in Unity-street is a monstrous abuse.* It was endowed by Robert Thorne, for the "better education and bringing up" of the youth of the city. Under the auspices of the Corporation it has been perverted into a splendid boarding-school establishment, to the great emolument of the Rev. Dr. Goodenough, and accommodation of the children of the magnates of Bristol.

Corporation of Liverpool.-Liverpool is an ancient borough by prescription, but incorporated by a series of charters granted from the reign of King John in 1208, to the reign of George II. By the latest charter it is provided that the body corporate shall consist of forty-one persons, composing the common council, out of whom shall be annually chosen a mayor, recorder, and two bailiffs. All who have passed the chair are styled aldermen. The mayor, recorder, and aldermen are magistrates for Liverpool, and the four senior aldermen are coroners.

Previously to the reign of Charles II. the freemen at large exercised the right of choosing their own corporate officers; but since that period, here, as in many other places, the corporate body assumed the power of filling up all vacancies within themselves. The free burgesses have, however, reclaimed part of their rights. Members of parliament are chosen by the free burgesses not receiving alms. persons who are born free, who have served an apprenticeship under freemen, or who have obtained their freedom by grant or purchase from the corporation,

All

Abridgement of the Reports of the Royal Commissioners on Public Charities, by the Editor of the Cabinet Lawyer. This work has been called "national,' and may be had of the publisher of the Black Book. From the valuable notes and comments of the editor we have been indebted for much of our information relative to the present state of corporations.

+ Account of Liverpool, by Smithers, p. 47. Aikin's History of Manchester, p. 345.

have the right of voting. A freeman of Liverpool is also a freeman of Bristol, and of Waterford and Wexford in Ireland.

The principal points that have, from time to time, been in dispute between the burgesses and corporation are these:-1. The right of making by-laws by the common council, without the assent or participation of the burgesses. 2. The plan adopted by the common council of electing their own members, or filling up vacancies in their own body. 3. The balancing of the corporation accounts without public audit by the burgesses at large. These points have been the subject of expensive litigation; the right of making by-laws was decided in favour of the burgesses by the verdicts of two juries at Lancaster; on which occasion Mr. Erskine was their counsel. A third trial was moved for by the corporation, which the Court of King's Bench, on what grounds does not appear, thought proper to grant. But the expenses incurred in these proceedings, which were sustained by individual burgesses, added to the consideration that the law has prescribed no limit to the authority of a court in remanding a cause for trial whenever it is not satisfied with the verdict, deterred the burgesses from further prosecution of their claim; and the common council, notwithstanding the opinion of the two juries, still continue to exercise the exclusive power of the corporation in the same manner as before these proceedings were instituted.+

Annual accounts, however, of the corporation receipts and expenditure are now regularly published. The income of the corporation amounts to £60,000, chiefly from fines for renewal of leases, rents, town dues, anchorage, weighing machine, &c. The mayor, the recorder, and the aldermen are magistrates for Liverpool, and the four senior aldermen are coroners for the time being.

Corporation of Bath.-The civil constitution of this city as now administered was established by the charter of Queen Elizabeth, dated the 4th of September, 1590, by which the municipal government is vested in a mayor and four aldermen at the least, and not exceeding ten at the most, assisted with twenty of the chief citizens, to be called a common council, and a majority of these (whereof the mayor for the time being is to be always one) may make laws, let the city lands, impose fines, and create, from among the inhabitants, free citizens and burgesses, whom they may bind with an oath to obey all lawful commands. On Monday before the feast of St. Michael, the mayor, aldermen, and common council, are to choose from among themselves the mayor for the ensuing year, and also elect a recorder, common clerk, chamberlain, constables, and other inferior officers, with two sergeants of the mace. Persons refusing to take these offices (except those of recorder and town-clerk) may be fined. The mayor is constituted coroner of the city and clerk of the market.

Smither's Account of Liverpool, p. 59.

+ Aikin's History of Manchester, p. 607.

Previous to this charter all preceding grants to Bath were vested in the whole of the citizens, who enjoyed the privilege of attending all meetings for making regulations for the internal government of the city, of being consulted in the formation of local institutions, of assenting to the appointment of parliamentary representatives, and of investing strangers with the rights and privileges of citizenship. These powers, for greater convenience, were usually delegated to a chosen body of themselves, the mayor always presiding at their head. But, in the course of time, the body so chosen to represent the citizens assumed a prescriptive right to the exercise of their delegated powers, independent of the suffrages of their fellow-townsmen, and, in order effectually to fortify their usurpation, they obtained the charter of Elizabeth, by which the popular constitution of Bath was subverted, and instead of it was substituted a perpetual oligarchy of self-elected individuals.

From this time the freemen of Bath were divided into two classes; the smaller one, which included only those who were of the community, (after Elizabeth's charter denominated the Corporation,) and the more numerous class, distinguished from the stranger or inhabitant of other places by the grant of some trifling local privileges; of these the chief seems to have been a certain interest or privilege of pasture in the grange of Barton or Bath-common.

The freedom of the city is obtained either by servitude or purchase, or both. The term of servitude must be seven years, under a freeman, residing in the city, who is to cause the indenture to be registered within one month after the sealing of the same, in default whereof the apprentice does not gain his citizenship at the conclusion of the term. The freedom by purchase can be granted by the corporation, on the payment of a sum not less than £5 (£70 is, we believe, generally paid) into the coffers of that body; of this, however, the resident freemen do not participate.

The income of the corporation arises from several sources; such as the private baths in Stall-street; the rent of the pump amounting to £840, (Warner's History, p. 337;) assessments for supplying the inhabitants with water from the adjoining hills: fines on the renewal of leases; and the profits of the weighing machine in the Saw-close.

The ecclesiastical patronage is confined to the rectorship of Bath, with Widcombe annexed, and the mastership of St. John's Hospital, both valuable benefices.

The mayor is allowed the sum of 400 guineas to defray the expenses of his mayoralty, chiefly incurred in support of ancient hospitality.

The inhabitants of Bath are not represented in parliament, but the corporation, whose members are usually kept below the number to which they are restricted by their charter, returns two representatives.

About the middle of last century, the different trades exercised in Bath were in the hands of distinct fraternities, the members of which wore gowns, had their processions and feast-days, and claimed exclusive privileges in the pursuit of their respective vocations. These societies had all sprung up about the year 1600, without charter or act of par

liament. In 1765, they were all extinguished by the firmness of one Glazeby, a tailor, who persisted in following his calling within the prohibited jurisdiction. A trial ensued in a court of law, when it was determined these mushroom companies had no legal existence.

There have been some royal grants to Bath subsequent to the charter of Elizabeth, but their provisions do not materially affect the constitution of the city as then established. In 1794, the number of city justices was augmented from two to nine, and power was granted to two aldermen, during the sickness, absence, or inability of the mayor, to appoint another alderman to act in that capacity.*

Corporation of Preston.--Preston is a market town, borough, and parish. It was incorporated by Henry II. in 1160, and the privileges and free customs granted by this and subsequent royal grants were confirmed by charter of 36th of Charles II.

The body corporate consists of a mayor, recorder, seven aldermen, and seventeen capital burgesses, who, together, form the common council of the borough. The mayor, and two town-bailiffs, and two sergeants are elected annually, upon the Friday preceding the festival of St. Wilfrid, who was formerly lord of this town, and they are invested, on the 12th of October following, by a jury of twenty-four guild burgesses. The members of the council, with the exception of the mayor, retain their seats for life, or during the pleasure of a majority, and vacancies are supplied by the remaining members. The town sends two representatives to parliament, and affords the nearest practical example of universal suffrage in the kingdom; every male inhabitant, whether housekeeper or lodger, who has resided six months in the town, and who has not, during the last twelvemonth, been chargeable to any township as a pauper, having a right to vote for two candidates at elections. This principle was established by a decision of the House of Commons, on an appeal, in the year 1766, and has ever since been acted upon.

The burgesses are entitled by the charter of Henry II. to have a GUILD MERCHANT, with the usual franchises annexed, of safe transit through the kingdom, exemption from toll, pontage, and stallage; liberty to buy and sell peaceably; and power to hold a guild for the renewal of freedom to the burgesses, the confirming of by-laws, and other purposes. This privilege is still made the occasion of great festivity. For a long time after their first institution, the guilds were held at irregular periods, but they have now for more than a century been celebrated every twentieth year; the last was held in 1822. The several trades of Preston are incorporated. Twenty-five chartered companies go in procession on the guild festival.

Corporation of Lichfield.-The city of Lichfield was anciently governed by a guild and guild-master, which had their first establishment in the reign of Richard II. in the year 1387. Soon after the dis

Abridgement of the Charity Reports: Notes of the Editor, p. 237.

solution of the guild, by act of parliament, 2 Edward VI. a charter of incorporation was granted to this city by the same king; which was to consist of two bailiffs and twenty-four burgesses; twelve of whom had been masters of the guild. Several other charters were granted by succeeding sovereigns, the provisions of which were confirmed by that of Charles II. and the constitution of the city as now existing determined.

This charter, dated November 5, 1664, directs that two bailiffs shall be annually elected by the brethren on St. James's day; that the senior bailiff shall be nominated by the bishop, keep a part of the seal and be escheator; that the bailiffs, at the expiration of their offices, shall be justices the succeeding year, and shall, together with the then bailiffs, hold courts of record, &c. have the use of fines and dues; that there shall be twenty-one brethren elected from among the citizens, and so called to aid and assist the bailiffs, as the common-council of the city; that the bailiff, or any of the brethren, shall be liable to be removed by a majority of the body; and upon the death or removal of any, others shall be elected by the like authority. It empowers the bailiffs and brethren to hold courts of gaol delivery; to award judgment of death or other punishment; and also to elect a recorder, steward, and common clerk: but none of these officers are to act without having first obtained the approbation of the Crown. They may also annually elect a sheriff, and any one refusing to serve may be fined or imprisoned, and excluded from all the privileges of the city.

Under the authority of the charters granted to this city, the several fraternities and Companies were formed of saddlers, glovers, whittawers, tanners, smiths, bakers, coopers, cutlers, &c. A list of these and their by-laws may be found in Harwood's History of the "City and Antiquities of Lichfield."

Corporation of Stafford.-The earliest incorporation of this borough was by charter of King John, in 1208. This charter was confirmed, and new privileges granted, by that of Edward VI. under which the government is constituted of a mayor, recorder, ten aldermen, ten common-councilmen, a town-clerk, and two sergeants-at-mace. The borough sends two members to Parliament, and has done so since the 23d of Edward I. The right of election is in the mayor, aldermen, and resident burgesses, not receiving parochial relief. The sons of burgesses, and those who have served apprentice seven years in the borough, have a right (upon the demand thereof) to be made burgesses. Though the electors claim to be independent of the personal influence of a patron, it appears, from the declarations of a lately elected member, they are accessible to an influence of a not less undignified description. The ancient custom of Borough English, by which the youngest son succeeds to property, in preference to the elder children, prevails in Stafford.

Corporation of Northampton.-Northampton is both a town incorporate and a borough. It was first incorporated by Henry II. and since confirmed by several successive charters under different reigns, and the

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